Yes. I've been following Karl Urban since I picked The Irrefutable Truth about Demons off the used DVD rack at a Blockbuster in 2001. The dude can act. I just hope he doesn't get too typecast as an action guy, which seems to be the way things are going for him.

I'm okay with him in action roles as long as they're the LotR and Star Trek variety and not the Doom and Pathfinder ones. For a brief period in the mid-2000's he totally was shitty-action-movie-lead-guy, but after Trek he became Eomer and McCoy again and that's a damn fine film legacy if nothing else is remembered.

From the wikipedia page:
Dredd's entire face is never shown properly in the strip. This custom began as an unofficial guideline, but soon became a rule which artists were required to follow. As John Wagner explained:
"It sums up the facelessness of justice − justice has no soul. So it isn't necessary for readers to see Dredd's face, and I don't want you to."

Its a little unfair to compare the 2, unfortunately for Dredd it is a big lumbering block buster, and they take a long time to make, as such other films can nip in and beat them to the punch. Dredd started filming 1 month before the Raid did, so they were not rip offs of 1 another.

I'm really surprised by the positive reviews since (other than Karl Urban seemingly doing an awesome job and the costumes look cool too) most of what the trailer shows you is some pretty shitty CGI-sequences of Mega City.
It looks like a goddamn matte painting in all the wrong ways.
The sequence from the addicts perspective with thumbnail in focus looks all smudgey-smeary a la TV-Quality CGI.

I really like Judge Dredd and I AM rooting for this movie even though I am bitching a bit before hand, but does it look any better in theatres?